"28mm Black Hussar von Winterfeldt" Topic

in contrast to La Marck I did only active shading for the white waistcoats and breeches, as well as faces and facings, the rest was achieved only with glazes of artist water colours and taking some paint off with a moist brush – to create the "highlights"

A lot of thought and detail was put into the production of these figures and in my opinion the gold standard of Prussian Infantry of the 7YW, the cut of cloth – the difference of officer coat versus rank and file, the positions of the muskets, rear rank side stepping to shot in between the gap of front ranks, the equippment details as water canteen, field axe and field spade – along with tent pegs, just a dream.

I tried out some blues, deep indigo for the officer and lighter tones (woad colouring) for the rank and file – as contemporary print series do stress this.

Lovely work! I can't wait to see the next installment!

"SIR", your painting "never" fails to amaze me! BRAVO!

Wow, breathtaking stuff, interesting technique

Definately Black Hussar is the Gold standard for SYW so far! Your excellent painting style just shows off what they have designed into their figures. I am working on the 40th (Fusilier) Regiment (there is just something about the "pink" facings) and the detail just begs to have the time taken in painting them all.

Hope they do some cavalry soon! Again, a great job Herr von Winterfeldt!

Good point too about the difference in quality between the officer's fabric and the enlisted men's.

Gorgeous!

Beautifully painted miniatures; these are exquisite. You are an extremely talented artist.

Not too impressed with Black Hussar, though. Very bad customer service (my last order took over two months to arrive) and some of the ranges are prone to inaccuracies. For example, their French line shows the saber and bayonet hanger on a wide shoulder belt, rather than a waist belt. It appears the sculptor might have used the old Bauer plates as a reference.

It's a shame tho. The miniatures themselves are very well sculpted and cleanly cast, and are indeed a joy to paint.

Thanks for the kind words about my painting, but it is easy to paint excellent figures

@Extrabio 1949

" For example, their French line shows the saber and bayonet hanger on a wide shoulder belt, rather than a waist belt. It appears the sculptor might have used the old Bauer plates as a reference."

I really cannot agree with your opinion, in fact, I believe that Black Husars are the only manufacturer which shows how French infantry did look like, there is the Becker manuscript which shows precisely those cross belts and those are confirmed by an eye witness testimonial of a German seeing them in Germany.

The French – like the Austrian army was very much in a transition period and updated and modernized their outlook during the 7YW.

The Brauer plate is a bad copy of those wonderfull prints of the Becker manuscript, which is available for download at Gallica

I am usually not that much interested in the 7YW but cannot resist to paint such outstanding sculpts.
I am sorry to see that their service is not running smoothly, but it is run by amateurs who have a full time job to earn their crust – I am gratefull that they issued these excellent figures here La Marck ;-)

Forget the manuscripts, just look at surviving originals. Plus I'm sure the official painters For the French army such as Lucien Rousselot and Eugene Leliepvre had it all wrong with those waist belts. Goodness.

I am sorry to say that I prefer contemporary manuscripts and eye witness accounts to any modern uniform arists who are not the end of wisdom, I highly regard the works of Rousselot and Leliepvre but also they are not infallible – research must go on and new evidence must be taken on board.
Please be so kind to look at the Becher pictures and let me know what you think.
I stick to my commitment to say that BH French 7YW infantry are top notch and very well researched

Superb work Von W! Your faces are exceptional.
Your drummer is excellent!

Some contemporary pictures show the sword belt worn around the waist, others, over the shoulder. My guess is that around the waist was regulation whilst over the shoulder was adopted on the march.

The above is taken from Vernet's painting which shows the Royal Comtois on their way to join the Minorca expedition.

The second picture is from the official series of paintings in the Musee de l'Armee, dated 1757.

I'm not a great fan of the Black Hussar French but as usual Von Winterfeldt's paintwork is superb.

@Dye4minis

Do you have the book by Hohrat who shows a contemporary picture manuscript of Prussian 7YW regiment by regiment?

The pink is quite a very deep strong colour.

I agree – good cavalry would be nice, especially cuirassiers, who have a completly different coat as infantry and which was much more ample – really shocking to see the difference between them and the dragoons.

@Duc de Brouilly

Thanks for your input, but I don't think that the manuscript from MdA Paris is from 1757 – or at least some of the plates, like that you showed are much earlier.
(I know officially dated from the museum at 1757 – but is it true??)

Unfortunately I did not copy a interesting discussion of sources I had with Jean – Louis Vial – and in case memory is not failing me, also he thinks that the picture manuscript is earlier than 1757 – what a great difference in style to Becher or Taccoli.

I agree that the waistbelt was regulation, and it was a long time still regulation when actually the French Army already did wear cross belts unofficially.
(for that reason till the Bardin regulation the difference in width, sabre belt about 60 mm wide, cartridge pouch 80 mm)

In my view, especially in the French army, out of regulation use predates later sanctioned practise, like collar hights of 1791 regulations, compared to actual coats and prints – for example.

My opinion, and I could be wrong – but right as well – is that the French Army did wear the sabre belt over the shoulder, not only on the march, your view and that of J-L Vial as well, but also in battle.

Unfortunately there is no reference how it was worn in battle, but in case the French infantry did already wear it on the march, why not in battle?

It might be well different on peace time duty or more formal contemporary pictural refernce – showing regulation instead of actual practise.

The French Army of the 7YW looked much different than 20 years before.

Menzel plates show uniforms of 1780 – and not uniforms of 7YW – yet they still shape our immagination of how the Prussian Army of the 7YW looked like.

@ von Winterfeldt

I do not have the Hohrat reference you mention. I have been using Dr. Summerfield's book on the Prussian Fusiliers and Englemann and Dorn's book on the Infantry. Their book on the battles shows the 40th in action. i also have been using pics I took ofr a surviving example of their mitre taken at the HGM in Vienna (Wien if you prefer)

I just read that the Austrian Cuirassier wore front and back plates till after the SYW. There was a regulation change in 1769.(Source: A History of the Austrian Army from Maria Theresa to the Present Day"- page 14.)

Hope BH does get that right, too, when they do Austrian Cav.

Beautiful painting.

Thank you for your (as always) thoughtful response Von Winterfeldt. I suppose we will never be sure exactly how they appeared in battle; quite possibly both styles were used, especially towards the end of the war.

I was interested in what you said about the Musee de l'Armee plates. I have to say I don't know anything about their provenance and accepted the 1757 date at face value. I would think they do at least post-date the War of the Austrian Succession, as most of the coats are shown with collars, a feature that was rarer in that earlier war.

The mitres in the picture above cannot be from the 40th as that had silver buttons/mitre fronts. The ones in the picture seem to be brass. I think they are for 41 whose colour was light carmine.

to aid Dye4minis quest to paing IR Nr. 40

here the plate from the picture manuscript out of Hohrahts superb work of the Prussian Army of Frederick the Great and a photo of original item

about existing original items – in some casese the original silver layer was polished off – and of course the colours of such a delicate pink, could fade as well, Hohrath is discussing all this in hist first volume as well.

Great work!

Enjoy seeing the painting!

@von Winterfeldt. How embarrassing! I DO have Horayh's 2 volume set in slipcover! (Bought it a year ago at the HGM!) Indeed, the 1st (thin) volume in the set explains how the dyes fade over time. On page 313 of volume 2, it talks about he different eagle on the rear crest. It also talks about the fittings being embossed brass plates over previous (originally) silver plates. (I am doing mine in silver)

My appologies as I did not recognize the author's name…until i check the slip cover…

Many thanks for your kind assistance intent! BTW, the descriptions for the mitres include the 40th at the museum. Have a few more pics on my blog if anyone is interested: smallwargaming.blogspot.de